In 1935, Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute in New York produced his book "Man the Unknown." In it, he wrote that

"enormous sums are now required to maintain prisons and insane asylums. . . . Why do we preserve these useless and harmful beings? This fact must be squarely faced. Why should society not dispose of the criminals and the insane in a more economical manner? . . . The community must be protected against troublesome and dangerous elements. . . . Perhaps prisons should be abolished. . . . The conditioning of the petty criminal with the whip, or some more scientific procedure, followed by a short stay in hospital, would probably suffice to insure order. [Criminals including those] who have . . . misled the public on important matters, should be humanely and economically disposed of in small euthanasic institutions supplied with proper gases. A similar treatment could be advantageously applied to the insane, guilty of criminal acts." (193)

Rockefeller's racist writers were a hit. By the early 1930's, thirty states had passed compulsory sterilization laws that gave panels of "experts" the power to sterilize individuals who fell into such undesirable social categories as "sexual perverts," "epileptics," "drunkards" and "drug fiends." (194)

States w/sterilization laws - 1921

Hitler accredited eugenics in America as the most important factor influencing his policies on racial and hereditary science. (195)

Above: "We do not stand alone" - Nazi propaganda justifying the 1934 sterilization law, shows a German couple surrounded by the flags of nations which already had identical laws. Neues Volk, 1936.

In 1906, he became attached to the Rockefeller Institute in New York City. There, he did research into the life of cells and blood vessels. His work led to a Nobel Prize in 1912 for his success in suturing blood vessels and transplanting organs.

During World War I, he returned to France and worked with Henry Dakin to perfect a system of treating infected wounds. The Carrel-Dakin solution saved countless lives.

Back in the United States, in 1934, Carrel worked with famed aviator Charles Lindbergh to create a heart perfusion pump, a medical breakthrough that would lead to the routine transplantation of organs and the artificial heart.

The following year, he published Man, the Unknown, a riveting analysis of humanity's stuggle to remain spiritually connected to others in a modern technologically-driven society. The book was a number one bestseller, landing him on the cover of Time Magazine in September, 1935. The book's themes are as timely now as they were in the 1930s.

At the outbreak of World War II, Dr. Carrel believed it was again his duty to return to France to be with his people. In 1941, he was appointed head of an organization, "The French Foundation for the Study of Human Problems," which he held until the Liberation of France in 1944. His work with this organization led to charges of collaboration with the Germans. He was cleared of all such charges just two weeks before his death.